Tracklist:

Track by track analysis:

01. p.s.i hate you♡xxx

[rêve parfait] bring their best to this song. p.s.i hate you♡xxx mixes a little bit of electronica with their raw punk-rock sound. Their trademark raw guitar riffs join the simple hi-hat driven drums, slap bass and synth bits to create an engaging instrumental that only has small flaws on it. This song would be better off without such a loud and over the place chorus. Yes, the chorus is loud and there’s too many things happening on it that the listener can’t help but to feel overwhelmed while listening to that section of the song. But that is the only flaw this instrumental has. The whole pacing of the song was done incredibly well, mixing the slow paced minimal synth hits – bass imbued for the most part – with the patient guitar riffs. The drums work is rather interesting with so many changes – tempo and style of playing – throughout the instrumental. The simple mid-tempo bassy punk-rock beat alongside the slap bass gave a depth to this instrumental that came as a surprise. The break puts on the spotlight the slap bass, dreamy guitar licks and synths pads, in what is quite possible the best section on this song’s instrumental. In regards to the vocal performance we almost repeat what we’ve said about the instrumental: good performance during the verses and a bit of an over-the-top, slightly annoying performance in the chorus. Even so, Takuya Eguchi knows how to deliver an energetic and solid performance for the most part. 4/5

02. -since you been gone-

Heavy guitar riffs are in charge of opening this song but what we got was far from a heavy punk-rock song or something like the previous song. -since you been gone- is a groovy pop-punk song that makes great use of background looping synth parts – those were a crucial part to make this song something slightly different from what [rêve parfait] are known for. What could have been a repetitive, bland punk-pop song was, in fact, an interesting and engaging listen in which a groovy beat instantly grabbed our attention. If we talk about “groove” we need to talk about the drums work. If there’s something extremely good on this instrumental is the drums work. The groove it sets with the bass drum and hi-hat make the verses a more enjoyable. The instrumental alone is a winner for us. The vocal performance this time around benefits from the slow pace and different vibe set by the instrumental. Eguchi is not required to top any ridiculous instrumentalization, which led to an extremely comfortable performance, the best on this single. 5/5

Final rating:

“p.s.i hate you♡xxx” is a solid release by [rêve parfait]. It’s their grooviest and despite some hiccups here and there, this is an overall good listen. The title track fails a bit to deliver a consistent satisfying experience to the listener. Its verses filled with their trademark raw guitar riffs and bassy drums, setting an interesting pace and vibe around the song. Eguchi‘s performance was as engaging as those parts were the problems obviously lies with a problematic part in the instrumental. The chorus is an assortment of instruments and synth bits that go way overboard. A good chorus was necessary for this song but what we got was something that was close to being a mess than anything trully interesting. However, if you put aside the chorus the song – both its instrumental and vocal performance – were energetic and fun to listen to.

-since you been gone- made good use of the band’s rebelious punk-pop sound and synths. The paced slows a lot for this song and, in return, the instrumentalization sounds heavier and deeper than anything they’ve ever released. The fact that the drums set an incredibly groovy vibe and sound made this song an instant favorite of ours. This is the kind of song that [rêve parfait] excel in. Fun, well paced, raw and groovy.

Both songs were groovy, making good use of bass drums, slap bass and bass imbued synths. In the end the sound felt more rich and deeper than ever.

As a whole, this release has small flaws here and there but it’s still a release worth checking out, especially if you enjoy pop-punk/punk-rock and Eguchi‘s versatile vocals. A pity that this release was overlooked in Japan – incredibly low sales – because this is one of the best singles [rêve parfait] have released so far.

“p.s.i hate you♡xxx” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.